Elling Bolt Holst (19 July 1849 – 2 September 1915) was a Norwegian

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

and children's writer.

Early and personal life

Holst was born in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

, Norway. He was a son of bookseller Adolph Theodor Holst and Amalie Fredrikke Bergh. He was a grandson of merchant and politician, member of the

Storting The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The Unicameralism, unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list propo ...

, Elling Mathias Holst (1785–1852). Holst enrolled as a student at the University of Christiania (now University of Oslo), his doctoral advisor was

Sophus Lie Marius Sophus Lie ( ; ; 17 December 1842 – 18 February 1899) was a Norwegian mathematician. He largely created the theory of continuous symmetry and applied it to the study of geometry and differential equations. He also made substantial cont ...

, and he graduated as cand.real. in 1874. He continued his studies in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, where

Felix Klein Felix Christian Klein (; ; 25 April 1849 – 22 June 1925) was a German mathematician and Mathematics education, mathematics educator, known for his work in group theory, complex analysis, non-Euclidean geometry, and the associations betwe ...

was among his teachers. He was appointed teacher at Aars og Voss skole in Christiania (now Oslo). His thesis ''Et par syntetiske Methoder, især til Brug ved Studiet af metriske Egenskaber'' was finished in 1882.

Career

Holst lectured in mathematics at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

from 1894. Among his other mathematical works are his contribution from 1878, ''Om Poncelets betydning for geometrien'', and several course books. He wrote biographies of several mathematicians, including Cato Maximilian Guldberg, Carl Anton Bjerknes,

and Niels Henrik Abel. Holst is particularly known for his children's books ''Norsk Billedbog for Børn'', three collections from 1888, 1890 and 1903 (with illustrations by Eivind Nielsen). The first of these books has been called Norway's first national picture book (although a picture abc had been published previously, in 1876). Holst started collecting traditional poems for children, several of which were first published in Norwegian writing in these books. These poems, such as "Ride, ride ranke", "Bake kake søte", "Kjerringa med staven", "Hoppe! sa gåsa" and "Du og jeg og vi to", have had a constant popularity over many years, and ''Norsk Billedbog for Børn'' has been reissued several times. Also contemporary poetry was included in the books, such as some poems by Henrik Wergeland, "Kom bukken til gutten" by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and "Blaamand" by Aasmund Olavsson Vinje. Among his other children's books are ''Julegodter for Børn'' from 1892, and ''A.B.C. for Skole og Hjem'' from 1893 (together with Anna Rogstad). He published the picture book ''Fra Sæteren'' in 1899, with illustrations by Lisbeth Bergh.

Personal life

He was married twice, first to Inger Skavlan (1852–99), and was a brother-in-law of Olaf Skavlan, Sigvald Skavlan, Aage Skavlan and Harald Skavlan. After her death, he married Marie Michelet (1872–1960), sister of Simon Michelet, in 1900. He was decorated Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1902.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holst, Elling 1849 births 1915 deaths Writers from Drammen University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian biographers Norwegian male writers Norwegian male biographers Norwegian children's writers Norwegian mathematicians Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal